Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-08

/ in, I,non fheTn is not only fair but necessary
uresumption of law and common sense mat
10 do 80 they NUT and Will respond with the
| sIacrity of enlightened selfinterest to every
reasonable demand upon their laborlous ana
| manifold Service is also to be presumed. mat
for such service, in all its professional. cleIlcaI
| and mechanical departments, there Will be the
best appointments of skilled and accommo-
dating managers and agents. stimulated by ten
ures and promotions incident to q Liework,
under directory whose touch is authority, and
| in contact with business agencies and pa rons
| whose intimation is guidance, is not only falr
presumption. but the truth oil Wei GraeIeu T rsil
| way management here and everywhere. mat
TO such reciprocities of interest, enterprise ana
ambition. more than to all the rudimental anti
railroad reformers VINO nave ulsir lg,Ialt
| themselves by exploded conceits and fallacies,
. the public is, and always will be, Indebted Tor
irnroved methods and reduced rates of safe and
rapid transportation
THE CENTRAL PACIFIC AND ITS ENEMIES.
But the proposition which thus betrays. its
| own absurdi.ies was never more nor better than
. a vieious appeal to partisan animositits, or TO
| some prevailing prejudice. From war times the
| Central Pa ,ifc Company has been the special
object OF its untiring repetition 10 wrest Gov
| eminent lands and loans of credit from the spe-
| eifc purposes for which they were made has all
along been the empty but designing threat OF IT'S
| enemies in the political ana business Woflo;
The old Cape Isthmus, coast and river lines OF
| TRANSFORMATION were never greatly interested IN
its success. Spectators and cal tal,tS, VINO
had declined its uncer. ain issues OF riches or
cess The exceptional purposes ana conditions
of the road, and the position OF Its owners IN
local politics were the inducing and exciting
causes of intense and unreasonlug resentment
| And in this confederation of hostile Interests
and influences may be included as economic
and implacable foes of a road subsidized for ma
tional and military purposes few unreconciled
and rancorous recruits from contemporary re-
bellion which, failing to prove an allpi, was
nailed by the Government like coonsktn to
the balndOOr Of the nation.
g,t1ff II fs of
Influences mutually stimulated into active an
tagOnism, and intensified by the helping hano
of the nation, have come the SINISTER waIcfles
and inviduous assaults SO often excited ana
directed against the fighting and resisting Ten
trail Pacific Company, sheer j"stlee TO when Is
always accused of wearing Its collar But WIN
| out is collar ard without the fear OF It's enc
mics we have refused, and still refuse, 10 con
| slider this ad captandum appeal to all the mean,
ness in the state; and because tue truth VIII
harm no one and ought TO be tOlu, we DelleNe
| aud say that. admitting such abuses ana errors
I as are incident to the magnitude ana almost IN
| finite qualifications of the trade ana transports,
! ton developed and assured by the Inucn-aDuseu
| company, il has fulfilled its covenants with the
| Federal Government and with fate, ana been
| steadtastly loyal and true TO the state oil Call
| fOruia.
| Ii has been and is the pioneer of the South
| ern Pacific system, and of the consequent pro-
| gress and development which have invited and
created the competing roads now eontestlng us
| supremacy. With multiplied inducements to
| railroad construction and competition, ana the
| greater value of real estate, has come the ne
ces;ity for branch roads and feeders, which
| must ave the right OF way over lands OF pr1-
vate owners. There are just three ways under
the sun by which it eau be obtained
GIFT, PURCHASE AND CONDENSATION.
Purchase and condemnation of private prop
erty for public or quasi public use, differing only
| in the mode OF compensation, are substantially
| the same The purchase price fixed by the
| owner or assessed by jury and PAID INTO
| Court is the just compensation" required by
the Constitution. In either case, and for all the
| uses and purposes of the purchaser. at private
| or judicial sale, he takes, with the sanctions OF
law and public requirement, the title OF MS pre-
| decessOr in interest In either OF the methods
| mentioned, one railroad company may acquire
| from another its corporate right of way; pro-
| vided only that if by condemnation, it be for
| greater and more necessary public use.
| And this be it remembered, is the eonstltu-
| tioual and statutory ri snt of eminent domain
| the rght-wrong which constitutes the burden
| of Complaining and pathetic appeals TO the out
| ragged people, in whose name and behalf, for
| purposes of eminent utility and necessity, 1t
| can alone be eXeTcsed What but the cultl-
waited stupidity upon which 1t presumeS could
| construe such a right into grievous wrong
| Why mention 1t at all out of q proper proceed
| ing i'll which 10 condemn something else and
| other than itself? To what subject of regula-
| ton or charge upon a completed road, over
| right of way for which one owner has received
| and his successor in interest has PAID the pur-
| chase price, can it be considered at all ger
| name? AS condition precedent to entry upon
| the desired tight of way, If purchased a. Judi
cial sale, the Constitution and code require Just
| compensation" When the contemplated road
has been completed and put in operation, the
Civil Code, in letter and spirit the same as the
common law and the unbroken current of judi
cial decisions, gives to its owner and operator
=" reasonable compensation Thus the puf-
chaser at private or Judicial sale. must have
| paid 81 lust compensation " for his right of way,
and for the use of his road, which inures to the
| public subject to his ownership he may collect
and receive from his predecessor in interest, as
from all other persons, 6 reasonable compeGsa-
ton T" and no more If payment thereof be re-
fused he may refuse to carry. Civil Code, Sec.
2l7S)
AN EXTRAORDINARY OCCASION.
What subject tor sensational craftsmanship.
Where are the anti railroad representatives
of themselves? Why are they not arouS-
ing the unsuspecting pub C? To make
last will they not demand another xt
ion? If not, why not? We have had one b
dragon constitutional officers into such patti
otie measures Of public policy as uniform rates
of transportation on railroads, uniformly paid
in advance by subsidies and rights of way be-
longing 10 their owners; and also to interpose
some interoeutory stump speeches IN tax suits
to reverse decision Of the Supreme Court, and
70 condem mn right of way through the Bench
for pretended pub ic use. True each Of them
was a brainless TAI ure, and the extraordinary
occasions aud statesman-hip of both are ia the
bottomless pit of unfinished business. And
since these eventful episodes the railroad com
have nevertheless and all the same paid the
sums for which they were sued, less attorneys
fees which they did not owe, and penalties
which there was no crime to fit. Ii we have
| never mentioned them before il is for the reason
that they were none of our business, and that as
political stock in trade they were fraud from the
beginning, aud we break the silence now brood
Ing over the once loud discussion of subsidies
aud HE right of eminent domain as official OBJ
s.ructiOus OF partisan shibboleths. merely to in
yoke against them the law in such case made
/ MD mn led
the people who have not been hOpelessly de-
eeiyed or prejudieed.
Another dilemma of the GemagngueS in this
State has been aud is how 10 sever the legal
ownership o; the property in railroads from Its
beneficial control so as 10 subordinate both 10
their own meIcenafy schemes aud cOnspiracies,
and not cause u Re sctiOu against themselves.
This attempted severance OF principal ana in
| cldent in derUgation OF common and statute
law, has driven some OF them TO lie damaging
! deuial that railroads belong to their owners-to
whom, for purposes of taxation. they must
| BE assessed. They, nevertheless. declare, with
vehement emphasis and repetition, " that cor
porations should be compelled to pay their taxes
| as individuals pay theirs But if the state i'll
contemp ation of law is the real owner OF the
roads, it were folly to cucumber them with
fixed charges for taxes to It's own credit, whether
paid by itself or by the disinherited corpora
lions as its agents aud malgcozers. And, sgain.
10 say that taxes which are fixed charges upon
all roads. whether owned and operated By the
State or by private corporations, are paid by the
patrOniZing business public is both true and
suggestive. When considered, 1t may occur TO
the people who have taxes to pay that railroad
| tax suits are not a bonanza for them, and tnat
they have taken too much stock in a bankrupt
syndicate Of spoilsInen.
CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS.
Alter all the ownership and operation of rail
| roads within the scope OF their charters are and
ought to be beyond dispute. The Constitution,
Article NIL Section is, predicates of works
| owned, leased OF worked by q railroad com
pany certain relations and in erests. which are
forbidden to its officers; and thus distinguishes
between such Interests and those which flow
from the wnerShip of sock" The Statutes of
1880. CHAPTER ST. section ], under penalty OF for
FIXTURE requires the corporation or indy dual
owning" a road "to operate the same The
Organic Act of 1850. Chapter 3d. Section II,
enumerates and specifies the transportation
companies owning and operating railroads,
aud thereby subject TO the jurisdiction of this
| commission as follows;
Section IA. The term Transportation com
| panies shall be deemed to mean and include
/, - First-An companies owning and operating
railroads (other than street railroads) within
..second-All companies owning and operating
: steamboats, engaged in the transportation OF
freight or passengers from and to ports III this
State.
} ''Third-All companies owning and operating
steamboats, used in transporting freight or pas
sengers upon the rivers or inland waters of this
State.
: .SThe word company as used in this Act
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